Introduction

This book begins with a fundamental question: Can women entrepreneurs serve as transformative agents in the fight against poverty? Drawing from immersive fieldwork across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, it examines how women navigate entrepreneurship in contexts of scarcity, social constraint, and resilience. Far from being passive beneficiaries of aid, these women operate informal businesses as acts of necessity, resistance, and self-determination. The book critiques gender-neutral policy frameworks and simplistic empowerment narratives, instead advocating for intersectional, culturally grounded, and community-driven models of support. It highlights how even small-scale enterprises can yield significant social and economic impacts—transforming households, communities, and gender norms. More than a study, this book is a call to action for researchers, policymakers, and development practitioners to center women's lived realities and to co-create inclusive systems that recognize them not as marginal actors but as essential leaders of change.